Nicholas Barry

I think, talk, and write a lot about interesting new projects I want to work on here at the office, and new leadership practices I want to implement. But I always have a focus on the basic, core tasks we're supposed to be doing here.

We're a Senator's district office. Our core task is to respond to constituents questions and concerns, and assist them with problems when we're able. Despite my past and continued excitement about the ownership initiatives, the bulk of interns' time is spent responding to letters and resolving casework. The bulk of my time is spent similarly.

And this is as it should be. I foresee a day very soon in the future when we are completely caught up on all our responses and casework, and we can spend more time and energy on proactive engagement with constituents. But while we still have response letters to write, it would be remiss to work on other things instead. We can't serve our constituency well if people can't expect a timely call back or response letter.

Between yesterday and today I have responded to a large number of lists and individual letters, and all the metrics I track (to measure how well we're getting back to constituents) are heading in the right direction.

I think this is what happens when lots of companies and organizations become really successful - it isn't that they don't focus on the core tasks, or that they neglect the basics. It's that they figure out how to address those tasks effortlessly, and have resources to spare on exciting new ways to go beyond what everyone else is doing. I believe we can be a trailblazing district office, and I'm excited to be a part of this!